Captive elephant deaths in Kerala halve in past 2 years

Thiruvananthapuram: The elephant lovers in Kerala are elated as the number of deaths of captive jumbos have halved in the past two years as compared to the earlier periods.
While 34 captive elephants died in 2018, the figures came down to 19 in 2020. With the state banning the sale and trafficking of captive elephants, statistically there had to be a slight increase in the number of deaths of the pachyderms. However, a dip has been witnessed in the number of captive elephant deaths.
The statistical figures of elephant deaths in the state in 2018, 2019 and 2020 are 34, 19 and 19, respectively.
It is to be noted that the state forest department has stringently enforced the provisions of the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules 2012, which include field visits by forest officials and recording the movement of elephants by introducing a movement register.
However, experts in the field of elephant studies are of the opinion that there has to be a more healthy intervention from the forest and district administrations as the death statistics during the lockdown period had raised some alarms.
Venkitachalam of Heritage Animal Task Force told IANS, “After the state banned the parade of elephants on March 16, 2020 following the Covid-19 outbreak, as many as 16 elephants have died and most of them were in the prime of age as compared to the older pachyderms which had died earlier. An urgent intervention of officials is required to reduce the number of deaths.”